AM34 running away with the Hart

[Canucks_fan18]

I think MacKinnon wins, but it should be Kucherov.

Agree with this.

[Axeman33]

There are no finalists. The NHL announces the top 3 vote getters. This is not the Hobey Baker with multiple stages of voting.

That's what I meant.

[rataylor22]

After all that, Matthews doesn’t get 70 lol.

[ericdaoust]

Matthews had a nice year

[Canucks_fan18]

Kuch with 100 though. I'm sure every shitty media personality who hyped that number when they thought only McDavid would achieve it is back peddling now. Gretzky, Mario and Orr what historic company to be in. Oh the drunk Russian who coasted in the all star game got it too, nvm its not that special.

[Invictus]

Kuch with 100 though. I'm sure every shitty media personality who hyped that number when they thought only McDavid would achieve it is back peddling now. Gretzky, Mario and Orr what historic company to be in. Oh the drunk Russian who coasted in the all star game got it too, nvm its not that special.

And he's the first winger to get there!

[Axeman33]

Kuch with 100 though. I'm sure every shitty media personality who hyped that number when they thought only McDavid would achieve it is back peddling now. Gretzky, Mario and Orr what historic company to be in. Oh the drunk Russian who coasted in the all star game got it too, nvm its not that special.

I cant see it, but you never know. Pretty special either way.

God knows Matthews was throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the net last night. Leafs have now lost their last four games. I wonder how much of those loses is due to the team trying to get Matthews to 70 over instead of actually trying to play like a team and win.

[blayze]

My heart broke when he hit that crossbar last night.

That's like 21 crossbars/goal posts this season... insane he could have had 75+ with better luck

[2014olympicgold]

My heart broke when he hit that crossbar last night.

That's like 21 crossbars/goal posts this season... insane he could have had 75+ with better luck

That would have been such a sick goal too.

[Axeman33]

My heart broke when he hit that crossbar last night.

That's like 21 crossbars/goal posts this season... insane he could have had 75+ with better luck

Hitting goalposts and crossbars is an indication of a well positioned goalie forcing a player to try and hit something that probably isn't there.

[blayze]

Hitting goalposts and crossbars is an indication of a well positioned goalie forcing a player to try and hit something that probably isn't there.

Or they just barely missed a perfectly placed shot by a few cm and hit the post...

The best scorers generally have the highest post counts as previously mentioned in the thread

[RizzeeDizzee]

For perspective, here are the top five forwards in posts + crossbars this season and the previous four:

2023-24 = Matthews, McDavid, Rantanen, Stamkos, Kaprizov
2022-23 = MacKinnon, Tage Thompson, EP40, Nylander, several tied for fifth (Kucherov, Trocheck, Kucherov, Stamkos, Bratt)
2021-22 = Forsberg, Pastrnak, EP40, Matthews, Rantanen
2020-21 = MacKinnon, Draisaitl, Jack Hughes, Kyle Connor, Matthews
2019-20 = Draisaitl, EP40, Matthews, several tied for fourth (McDavid, Vrana(!), Virtanen(!), Hoffman(!))

In several instances, this portended breakouts or jumps in scoring for the following season. It also underscored the greatness of some of these players. But it's not foolproof, as can be seen by some of the names on the list. Still, I think it is a pretty good predictive metric all things considered.

[Pengwin7]

Posts & crossbars are just snipers who prefer edges/corners.
Yes - these are usually very accurate shooters.
But... it's also a reflection of their preference of shooting.

(I've played with men's league / beer league types like this too. Always "picking a corner". It's the sexiest way to score. That's not debatable. A "ching" on a goal is its own kind of celly/trash. Some of us with less zip are completely fine with forehand/backhand/shelf or forehand/backhand/ice-5hole... or shooting through traffic when the goalies eyes are screened. The guys that try to pick corners also sometimes miss wide from bad angles... the puck runs around the board, is picked up by opposing forward - breakout other direction - goal for other team... minus. Its less sexy to hit the goalie... but rebounds have some value too. "Juicy rebounds" should be an NHL stat. I'd love to see which players lead the league each year in juicy rebounds. Posts & crossbars rarely give up juicy rebounds. Picking edges/corners is a very "all or nothing" shooting style. If you got it, do it...)

A guy like Crosby is thinking 5-hole a lot.
A guy like Ovechkin is looking to laser those cross-ice passes into the center of the space he knows will be open. Even if it's off by 8 inches... it ain't going to hit iron.


Hockey is hockey.
Pick your way to score.
[Posts & crossbars, though, no actual cred-points for that in my books. It's a sexy miss without a good rebound.]

[RizzeeDizzee]

Posts & crossbars are just snipers who prefer edges/corners.
Yes - these are usually very accurate shooters.
But... it's also a reflection of their preference of shooting.

(I've played with men's league / beer league types like this too. Always "picking a corner". It's the sexiest way to score. That's not debatable. A "ching" on a goal is its own kind of celly/trash. Some of us with less zip are completely fine with forehand/backhand/shelf or forehand/backhand/ice-5hole... or shooting through traffic when the goalies eyes are screened. The guys that try to pick corners also sometimes miss wide from bad angles... the puck runs around the board, is picked up by opposing forward - breakout other direction - goal for other team... minus. Its less sexy to hit the goalie... but rebounds have some value too. "Juicy rebounds" should be an NHL stat. I'd love to see which players lead the league each year in juicy rebounds. Posts & crossbars rarely give up juicy rebounds. Picking edges/corners is a very "all or nothing" shooting style. If you got it, do it...)

A guy like Crosby is thinking 5-hole a lot.
A guy like Ovechkin is looking to laser those cross-ice passes into the center of the space he knows will be open. Even if it's off by 8 inches... it ain't going to hit iron.


Hockey is hockey.
Pick your way to score.
[Posts & crossbars, though, no actual cred-points for that in my books. It's a sexy miss without a good rebound.]

FWIW, Crosby was sixth in one of these years

[Axeman33]

Or they just barely missed a perfectly placed shot by a few cm and hit the post...

The best scorers generally have the highest post counts as previously mentioned in the thread

I'll take the goalie side of this argument.